This little-known work by Jeremy Bentham, the great English philosopher and originator of utilitarianism, was considered so controversial when it was first published in 1822 that Bentham used the pseudonym of "Philip Beauchamp." The focus of this critical treatise is "natural religion," a school of thought that maintained one could use human reason alone, unaided by faith, to deduce the will of God from the natural order. As the creator of a system that defined human happiness in terms of a moral calculus based on pleasure and pain, Bentham was quite skeptical of all claims of religion. Thus it is not surprising that the results of BenthamĘs analysis of the influence of natural religion on human happiness are decidedly negative.
Divided into two parts, Bentham first criticizes the major tenets of belief in a supreme being and its alleged benefits to humanity. Among these criticisms he notes the unreliability and incoherence of religion's promises of rewards or punishments after death, especially as an inducement to good conduct in this life; its generally fuzzy concepts concerning the character and will of God; and its inefficiency in preventing commonplace human evils. In the second part, Bentham catalogues the many ways in which natural religion harms both individuals and society as a whole: it taxes the individual's emotional well-being with the psychological burdens of fear, scruples, and guilt; prejudices the objectivity of the intellect; splinters society into contentious factions; and has other negative consequences which he details at length.
At a time when the Anglican Church was still a highly influential institution in English society, it is easy to understand how this work would have been considered controversial. Some may still find it so today, and it remains an interesting challenge to traditional theism by a first-rate thinker.
JEREMY BENTHAM was born in London on February 15, 1748, to a family of comfortable means. His was the life of a child prodigy who read Latin at three years of age and at twelve was enrolled in Oxford University, where he received his undergraduate degree at the age of sixteen. Thereafter, he studied law at Lincoln's Inn, Westminster. Inheritances from his parents afforded Bentham the opportunity to pursue a life of study and writing. While in his mid-forties, he dedicated himself to the critical analysis and reform of moral, political, religious, legal, educational, and economic institutions as they existed in England.
Though he found the judicial system to be hypocritical and corrupt, Bentham's fascination with the fundamental ideals of the law steered him toward philosophy and science in an effort to develop standards that could ground the social order. His reformist tendencies proved to be a significant factor in the development of his now famous system of ethics known as utilitarianism, wherein human action was to be judged by the amount of pleasure and pain it produced.
Bentham's published works include: A Fragment on Govern-ment (1776), An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1781), The Rationale of Judicial Evidence (edited by John Stuart Mill in 1825), and two volumes on Constitutional Code (ca. 1830). Bentham died in London on June 16, 1832.
